Now that Rebecka Evans has tasted victory as a “competitive cook,” she wants another helping.

This summer, Pearland’s “self-taught, stay-at-home-mom food blogger” is perfecting several new culinary delights, such as a bacon-bourbon cupcake, in hopes of retaining her title as the world bacon champion.

“The pressure is on,” said Evans, as other contestants “are coming for me.”

The cupcake, which features candy bourbon bacon and vanilla pastry cream, “is in the infant stages of recipe creation,” said Evans. “It is one of the recipes I'm working on for World Food Championship 2018,” a contest set for Nov. 7-12 in Orange Beach, Alabama.

Last November, Evans’ Dutch Crunch Baby Pancakes won her the 2017 World Bacon Champion title and $10,000. Her victory also scored her a golden ticket to the ultimate cookoff, the “Final Table,” in which she competed April 20-21 in Bentonville, Arkansas, the home of a contest sponsor, Wal-Mart.

“The Final Table was overwhelming and exhilarating and so many emotions at the same time,” Evans said.

The 10 chefs were packed into a classroom at the technologically advanced Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food. Each candidate plus with sous chefs were positioned at individual cooking stations as judges roamed the rooms and cameras from Dick Clark Productions recorded the competition for broadcast later this summer on a cable channel.

“It was loud,” Evans said. “To me, it was joy!”

In the field were other world champions from the food favorites including barbecue, burgers, chili, desserts, sandwiches, seafood and steak. Evans tied for fifth, then placed seventh based on tie-breaker criteria.

She was awarded $1,400, compared to the top prize of $100,000. But other benefits came from the networking opportunities, which landed several sponsors for upcoming projects.

For example, Ankarsrum Original USA is contributing a $700 mixer to the winner of a contest Evans is holding on her food blog, AtHomeWithRebecka.com.

In addition, she said, “My bacon sponsor is Kountry Boy Sausage Co., and I’m also the ambassador for The Oyster Bed Co. I make bacon bombs in their oyster beds as well as a bacon-infused dessert.”

She’s also challenging herself to move beyond her winning status as a savory cook by doing more baking.

“I am a self-proclaimed ‘disaster’ baker, but I don’t want to be known as a one-trick pony,” she said. “As a savory cook, I enjoy adding a pinch of this and a pinch of that. But that doesn’t work so well in baking.”

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net